Alfred Elton Van Vogt Boeken

Following the success of the stories that formed The Weapon Shops of Isher, van Vogt wrote the novel, The Weapon Makers, in 1943, to enlarge the story of human immortality, the conflict between a controlling government, The House of Isher, the mysterious Weapon Shops and man's place in the universe. The promise of the Weapon Shops' slogan, The Right to Buy Weapons is the Right to Be Free, is described thus: "Many of these weapons still carried the old names. “Guns” they were called, or “revolvers,” or “rifles,” but there the resemblance ended. These “guns” did not shoot bullets, they discharged energy in many forms and quantities. Some of them could kill or destroy at a thousand miles if necessary, and yet they were controlled by the same sensitive elements as the Weapon Shop door. Just as the door refused to open for police officers, Imperial soldiers or people unfriendly to the Shops, so these guns had been set to fire only in self-defense, and against certain animals during open season. They also had other special qualities, particularly as to defense and speed of operation."

In the 1940s, the Golden Age of science fiction flowered in the magazine Astounding. Editor John W. Campbell, Jr., discovered and promoted great new writers such as A.E. van Vogt, whose novel Slan was one of the works of the era. Slan is the story of Jommy Cross, the orphan mutant outcast from a future society prejudiced against mutants, or slans. Throughout the forties and into the fifties, Slan was considered the single most important SF novel, the one great book that everyone had to read. Today it remains a monument to pulp SF adventure, filled with constant action and a cornucopia of ideas. This edition has a new introduction by Kevin J. Anderson.

De jonge Lesbee zag Ganarette kijken naar de klok op het instrumentenpaneel. 'Ik heb je iets te zeggen, John,' zei hij. 'En het lijkt me het beste om dat nu te doen. Vijf minuten na het begin van de film neemt mijn groep de leiding van dit schip over. Het is onze bedoeling jou het commando te geven - maar alleen onder voorwaarde dat je je bereid verklaart terug te keren naar de aarde. Wij willen de oude knarren geen kwaad doen - als ze zich behoorlijk gedragen. Wat jou betreft - als je probeert iemand te waarschuwen, zullen we ons plan om jou kapitein te maken, opnieuw moeten bezien ...' Het aardse ruimteschip Hope of Man, al meer dan twintig jaar onderweg, heeft nog negen jaar voor de boeg voordat het Centaurus bereikt. Velen aan boord vinden het nu welletjes, maar voor de oude kapitein Lesbee is er al lang geen terug meer als de rebellen zich tegen hem keren ..

With the publication, in the July 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, of the story Seesaw, van Vogt began unfolding the complex tale of the oppressive Empire of Isher and the mysterious Weapon Shops. This volume, The Weapon Shops of Isher, includes the first three parts of the saga and introduces perhaps the most famous political slogan of science fiction: The Right to Buy Weapons is the Right to Be Free. Born at the height of Nazi conquest, the Isher stories suggested that an oppressive government could never completely subjugate its own citizens if they were well armed. The audience appeal was immediate and has endured long beyond other stories of alien invasion, global conflict and post war nuclear angst.

bundle of short science fiction stories